Hi all.... This is Nancy from Powell Brower Interiors. I am happy to fill in for Julie while she is taking some much needed 'down' time after her family's loss this summer. She is an amazing presence in our design community and we hope she gets the rest and battery recharging that she needs. Bless you and your family Julie. She asked me to talk about design, so let's talk about trends...

With fall approaching people look for the next trend and opportunity to transform their homes with the 'latest' in decor. My recent post "Are you on Board?" brought us to thinking about those marketing ploys and "colors of the year" and how some people jump on them, and other's not.

Whether it is a paint brands 'color of the year", Pantone's, or any other brand's color pick for the year, what that really is is a marketing tool that retailers jump on spawning the influx of that color into the marketplace at every level. Take it or leave it, but what I find interesting is that it brings that color to' light' where you may not have noticed it that much before. You are more aware of it since it hit the headlines and products in that color are easier to find.

I think it's fun, but I don't necessarily subscribe to trends as much as using the following guidelines:

DO WHAT YOU LOVE, AND BE COMMITTED TO IT

IF YOURE LOOKING TO UPDATE, CHECK OUT MAGAZINES AND PINTEREST FOR INSPIRATION, AS A JUMPING OFF POINT- NOT LITERAL.

ADD YOUR OWN PERSONAL STORY TO THE ROOM, MAKE IT "YOU", NOT SOMEONE ELSE'S ROOM

Are you seeing alot of all white rooms, or all black rooms, or all white kitchens? These certainly are hot right now, but wait, there's another look just on the horizon! We are seeing beige in every variety coming back.

We are moving back to neutral environments with color added, as opposed to each room being a different bold color. Remember the days when the carpet colors changed from room to room? At least we seemed to learn from that one, and opted for different wall colors from room to room, but a neutral floor that tied it altogether. Now we are 'cleansing our decor palettes' in our homes and resetting our compasses with whites, beiges and many pale shades of colors all claiming to be the new neutrals.

For the last 10 years everyone painted all their wood furniture. It seems like original integrity of wood and using natural tones are coming back, with "earthtones' sneaking their way back in slightly different hues; Mustard, Ochre, Brown-colors in nature. I wonder what the color predictors will label this trend? Natural with a kick?

Are you bringing back earth tones in some way or another yet? I'm all for cleansing our palettes from time to time.